Spelling Bee Answers for Thursday, May 22, 2025
May 22, 2025, Thursday Spelling Bee Answers for the T, A, O, H, C, L, P honeycomb (center letter P) feature 47 words, a 163-point total, 1 Pangram (0 Perfect Pangram perfect), and the 8-letter longest word: POTLATCH.
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Thursday, May 22, 2025 NYT Spelling Bee Puzzle Insights
A closer look at this NYT puzzle difficulty, word patterns, scoring, and solve time.
Difficulty
6/10
Hard55th percentile
Avg Word Length
4.91
Short wordsAll-time avg: 5.4
Rarity
60/100
RareRarer than 60% of puzzles
Avg Solve Time
45 minutes
Longer than usualTo reach Genius
2LL
17
Typical spreadUnique two-letter openings
Bingo Status
Yes
All 7 coveredAll 7 letters start at least 1 word
GN4L
18
words to GeniusGN4L OTN
Yes
Exact 114 ptsVowel Split
38%
Balanced mix88 vowels · 143 consonants
Score Milestones
- 0%Beginner0 PTS
- 5%Good Start8 PTS
- 15%Moving Up24 PTS
- 25%Good41 PTS
- 40%Solid65 PTS
- 50%Nice82 PTS
- 60%Great98 PTS
- 65%Amazing106 PTS
- 70%Genius114 PTS
- 100%Queen Bee163 PTS
Full List of NYT Spelling Bee Answers
Here is the complete list of 47 answers for the New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle for Thursday, May 22, 2025. The answers are organized by word length and point value, along with today's pangram. Prefer a spoiler-free approach? Try the spelling bee hints for today or browse the full list of NYT spelling bee words.
Common openings
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Puzzle Letters
Pangrams
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Complete Answers
Sort it your way: longest words or highest scores.
8-Letter Words 1 word
7-Letter Words 5 words
6-Letter Words 8 words
5-Letter Words 8 words
4-Letter Words 25 words
Browse calendar of past puzzles
Word Length Distribution
Share of 47 answers at each word length.
Letter Coverage
Share of 47 words using each hive letter.
Points by Length
Total points available at each word length.
Letter Frequency Distribution
Share of 47 words starting with each letter.
How does this puzzle compare to other puzzles?
- Today’s score of 163 ranks in the 33rd percentile among all puzzles.
- The last time a score this low appeared was on 2025-05-21.
- The highest score recorded is 506, seen on 2023-09-24.
- The lowest score recorded is 47, seen on 2023-03-27.
- With 47 possible answers, this puzzle falls in the 61st percentile overall.
- The last puzzle with fewer answers occurred on 2025-05-21.
- The highest number of answers in any puzzle is 80, on 2026-02-01.
- The lowest number of answers in any puzzle is 16, on 2023-03-27.
- This puzzle ranks among the Hard puzzles, based on overall difficulty scoring.
- Compared to recent puzzles, today’s challenge is harder than average.
- The letter set in this puzzle is considered Low, compared to typical puzzles.
- Puzzles with similar letter rarity last appeared on 2025-05-20.
- The estimated solve time of 38–52 min is slower than typical puzzles.
- Players can expect a challenging solving experience.
Other Dictionary Words Not on This Puzzle's Official List
Wondering why these words aren't on the official list*:
- acop
- acpt
- alap
- alapa
- allopath
- alop
- alphol
- aphtha
- apollo
- apoop
- appal
- appalto
- appl
- applot
- appt
- atap
- callop
- calp
- calpac
- capa
- caph
- capoc
- capot
- catchpoll
- catlap
- chappal
- chapt
- clapt
- cloop
- coapt
- collop
- colp
- copa
- copal
- coplot
- coppa
- copt
- halp
- holophotal
- holp
- hoopoo
- hoppo
- hotchpot
- hotchpotch
- lapacho
- lapachol
- lapp
- lappa
- octapla
- opah
- opata
- paca
- pacha
- pacht
- paco
- paha
- paho
- pala
- palla
- pallah
- palolo
- palpal
- palta
- paola
- paolo
- paopao
- pata
- pataca
- patao
- pathol
- pato
- patola
- patt
- patta
- phoca
- phocal
- phoh
- phoo
- phot
- photal
- phpht
- plap
- plato
- platt
- ploat
- poco
- poha
- polacca
- polt
- poolhall
- poot
- popal
- popoloco
- potch
- potlach
- potoo
- pott
- pottah
- potto
- talpa
- tapacolo
- tapalo
- tappa
- tappall
- tolpatch
- toop
- topato
- toph
- topo
*Every word here uses only the hive's seven letters, includes the center letter, and appears in our dictionary, but it was never published in the NYT's official answer list.